What a weekend

For three days, the eyes of the baseball world were focused on Chavez Ravine. (I’d say the entire sports world but a little footy contest in South Africa may have drawn some attention as well).

Sure there was Halladay vs. the Jays. Santana vs. the Twins. The North Side vs. the South Side. The battle of the Lone Star State. Even the Red Sox vs. the Giants. But one series stood above the rest this weekend as the World of Dodgertown took on Yankees Universe in a marquee matchup that felt like Opening Day…in October…for three games in a row!

First things first, we lost the series. There’s nothing to say that will change that and nothing can erase the pain of Sunday’s defeat. Our fellow blogger, Alyssa Milano, said it best as she tweeted, “#Yankees, breaking hearts since the early 1900’s.”

The good news? This was not October. In fact, these games meant less in the standings than the three to come in San Francisco. So if I may, I’d like to take a quick step back to remember the last 72 hours before the next series is upon us. They were pretty special.

From the moment the teams began BP on Friday afternoon, it was easy to see that there was something different about the weekend ahead. It was made easy by the traveling band of media that accompany the Yankees from town to town. It was wall-to-wall press on the field as Joe Torre, in his first appearance AGAINST the Yankees since he departed the Bronx, greeted his former players. From Derek Jeter to current Yankees Manager, Joe Girardi, every hand-shake and hug was documented.

In case you missed the ads – we’ve been running them since February – there was also a Rivalry being Renewed at Dodger Stadium and a few men who help define the term were also on hand including Tommy, Garvey, Cey, Russell & pinstriper named Reggie. They all exchanged pleasantries as well, including a feisty ‘discussion’ between Lasorda and Jackson on the air during Saturday’s telecast (all done in jest). One thing was certain, Tommy bleeds Dodger blue.

Opening Night (as it could easily have been dubbed) was kick-started by a rocking National Anthem performance by members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which was immediately followed by a standing-ovation-inducing first pitch by Lakers Center, and World Champion, Pau Gasol. If that wasn’t enough to get the engines started, the Dodgers went up 1-0 in the first inning…of course they would fail to score again. However, despite falling 2-1 in the opener, Vicente Padilla gave the fans plenty of moments to cheer.The tight score gave game one the drama the series deserved and the renewal was underway.

Game two of the series was the first of two to be broadcast across the country and included its own pre-game, made for TV – rather HBO – moments as E, Turtle, Johnny Drama and Vinny Chase threw out the first pitch. The Entourage boys got their fair share of applause, but the ovations would come even more often during the game with the Dodgers loading the bases three times, knocking AJ Burnett out of the game early, and earning a much needed victory despite falling behind 3-0 before an out was recorded.

The series finale had it all. First of all, it was on ESPN with Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and a familiar face, Orel Hershiser, calling the game. Second, the stars of Hollywood came out in droves to experience the rubber match of the rivalry for themselves. There was Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise. Alyssa Milano and Jack. Jake T. Austin and Zac Efron. And those were just the famous faces found by DodgerVision! The celebrities added an air of importance to the game and the Dodgers youngest star took his cue as Clayton Kershaw masterfully shut down the Yankees without allowing a walk for the first time in his career. Of course the drama continued late into the night in a heart-breaking sequence of Broxton, Cano, Mariano, and scene.

As we look ahead to the Giants and D-Backs, followed by the final homestand of the first half, this series will eventually fade in our memories – especially since we ended up on the losing end. However, from the rally towels to the Yankees rally, Dodger fans were treated to a 3-part drama that is typically reserved for the fall. The title, “Christmas in July” is a phrase often used to describe an event that brings about unexpected excitement. I think if we take a step back, we’ll realize that we all just experienced “The World Series in June”. At least in my own estimation. I hope to see you all at the sequel this October.

117 Comments

What this whole debacle reinforces for me is that, amid all the talk of Dodgers’ tradition and our legacy (particularly against the Yanks), is that this is no longer the Dodgers franchise talked about among the elite of baseball.

Our owners have made a laughingstock out of this team with their ugly divorce and the whole Shpunt story. They’ve continued where FOX left off in making this organization completely empty and superficial. “The Dodger Way” of playing baseball is dead. This is no longer the Dodgers of Snider, Cey, Garvey, Scioscia, Alston, and Lasorda. That era is dead and buried.

Dodger baseball can now be attributed to unfulfilled potential, lack of passion/hustle, bad attitudes, primadonnas, and idiot baseball.

I attended last night’s game and while I think you all have said just about everything that can be said by very loyal Dodger fans, I have add my “two cents”. NSB, I commend you for your comments about the “This Is My Town” billboards and more to the point, the constant showing of these messages on the video board. I don’t really care if those celebrities are Dodger fans or not. Heck, I don’t even know who half those celebrities are or why they are celebrities but that is another story. The point here is this organization isn’t about celebrities, it is about you and me and every other fan, celebrity or not, who cares about the team, buys the tickets, food and other junk, or who never attend a game but listen to or watch the broadcasts every game. It is about the Joe Pierre’s who up until last year never saw a game at Dodger Stadium and who will forever support the Dodgers win or lose. So Josh, please pass the word along to the video producers to back off from the slides of celebrities and concentrate more on giving me useful information about the players.

As for the game itself, I felt the frustration but what bothered me most was the cheering from the Yankee fans. I was not surprised by how many Yankee fans attended these games. The mini game plan certainly was not a deterrent for anyone who wanted to see these games. We bought tickets on Stub Hub (I did not get any of these games in the ticket partnership to which I belong) and I suspect many other fans did as well. There are always a lot of fans from the opposition but not like this. Except for A-Rods blast, Yankee fans were pretty quiet until Broxton’s meltdown. I am not used to hearing so much cheering for an Ethier strikeout. Not good.

Now let me get to how I felt when the game finally ended. First, I had that feeling the Dodgers would lose as soon as the Yankees tied the game. I usually don’t have such feelings and I still had hope. But no confidence. I also came away not terribly angry at the players but at the situation; the reality that the Dodger organization clearly is not ready to compete at the highest levels. Remember we said in order to be the best you had to beat the best? Hasn’t worked out yet the way we want. As it became clear Broxton did not have it, I was asked why the Dodgers had no one warming up; why did Torre stay with Broxton? My response was simple: Broxton is the best we have and it was his game at that point. Was this another Torre mistake? I will let others pass judgment on that but who else was there? Clearly Joe has no confidence in anyone besides Kuo, who at best is an every other day one inning specialty guy, and Belisario.

It also pains me to agree that getting a big name front line pitcher is probably not enough. In spite of all Ethier’s game winning hits, this team still does not seem to know how to win or overcome adversity. I certainly hope the players are not pointing fingers at each other. Clearly they are frustrated but it is not umpire’s calls that are costing this team victories. The scary thought, however, is that the players are playing to the best of their ability.

There is still time to turn this thing around. Most of us felt the team won with smoke and mirrors last season and it seems that has passed on to the Padres. Baseball is a game for optomists. It was a horrible loss last night but not because it was to the Yankees but because the Dodgers lost another game in the standings. At least the Dodgers have done well against teams in the Western Division. The time to rebound is tonight’s game.

When I say the fans deserve a winner…since 1988 (the Dodgers last World Series appearance) only five clubs have failed to make it to the World Series: Washington Nationals/Expos, Brewers, Cubs, Pirates……..and our beloved Dodgers. Sick.

Sick when you consider the Dodgers appeared in multiple World Series from the 1940?s through the 1980?s. Sick when you consider the team did not even win a playoff game after the 1988 championship until 2004. Sick when you consider the team had two managers from 1954 to 1996 and how many since then, and one owner pretty much the same time and two since. Sick when you consider all the rookies of the year. Sick when you consider the organization was among the best run and most respected sports franchises and certainly in baseball. Sick when you consider the Dodgers pretty much invented the farm system and were pioneers in developing Latin American talent. Sick when you consider the team spent a lot of time this past weekend reminiscing the 1981 World Series victory over the Yankees while Yankee fans probably said, ?well, good for you but what have you done lately?? Sick when you consider the great publicity the organization gets from how much money Frank and Jamie are spending on attorneys and energy vibe guys while the manager begs for pitching. In fact, I am getting sick of talking about it and I am supposed to be the voice of reason.

Just like lots of us Dodger fans made it to Boston, lots of Yankee fans were in attendance.
For all three games I saw different Yankee fans in my section. Some people sold their tickets as it was an opportunity to make money and bought extras to sell. Some could not make it to the game so they sold them.
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I had an extra pair that I had bought for Saturday and offered first to Dodger fans and then to Yankee fans at face value. I mentioned here first and other blogs I visit. I sold them face value at work.
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I know someone that made enough profit to buy two All-Star tickets. I heard different reasons for selling them, mainly to make some money.
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To each his own. I don’t blame them for trying to make a profit. I kept my two tickets and went to all three games with my brother.
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I too don’t recognize some of those celebrities in the “This is My town” billboard so I could care less for them.
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Josh Lukin, Josh Rawitch and all front office,
We don’t care celebrities that mostly went to see the Yankees, bleacher sections and mimicks like that.
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What we care about is a compettive team on the field!
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OH! also let me tell you about a family of five that said after Friday game that they were not coming back. He must have sold his tickets to Saturday and Sunday. His wife is in a wheelchair and she always goes with her wheelchair in back of the seats in aisle one. they told her she could not do that and my friend said he was not coming back. I have seen Todd and his family for as long as I had my seats there which is five years. It be ashamed that we will lose them. We know extra beer sections get setup in back of the seats
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Also what about that “Rent a Man” guy that comes to Dodger Stadium? he advertises WEstsiderentals. Google him if you want to know about him. He has this big cape with his advertising but my little handmade bag that says “Hilda is Here” was not permitted. I know that when I told you about Josh, you said “it must have been bigger than the alooted size of bags” but all that saw me know that is WAY under the size allowed.
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That guy “Rent a Man” (his t-shirt says that) blocks fans view when he goes by the rail to do his so called dancing. You should hear the language he uses in the parking lot with his song parity as he continues to dance in the parking lot. My friend Jennine complained about him and the guard said “there is nothing we can do” Jennine did not know about his singing and dancing in the parking lot and I would guess neither does security.
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Ok, end of rant. Got to go out for birthday dinner.
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com

It’s a good thing Dodger Stadium experienced “The World Series in June”, because at this rate, we’re probably not making the World Series in October.

When I said I was over last night’s game, I meant it. This isn’t October, and that NY team was the same as any t-bALl playing chuckleheads we could come across (namely because of the fact that they all beat us senseless, save Detroit).

THIS Dodger fan will not accept this as a substitue for a World Series. We should’ve already been to the show, but Frank won’t give Joe Torre the one thing he wanted since signing with the Dodgers.

In essence, above all, FRANK McCOURT HAS EMBARRASSED JOE TORRE IN FRONT OF HIS OLD TEAM, HIS NEW TEAM, AND THE ENTIRE BASEBALL LOVING WORLD. NOT TO MENTION ALL THE LIFELONG DODGER FANS IN THE BASEBALL LOVING WORLD.

I felt bad for Joe when he put Broxton in. Who else is there to count on at that point? I’d “go to war with Broxton” any day of the season myself. (Joe might’ve overused him at an attempt to make sure he saved face in front of Steinbrenner’s team, but that’s a different commenting post entirely).

At least Rupert Murdoch had a driven goal that pertained to the team on the field: He wanted to destroy the Braves.

Frank McCourt’s drive:
LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH TO GRAB OUR MONEY. EXPLOITING A DODGER TRADITION HE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT TO GRAB OUR MONEY. GERRYMANDERING DODGER STADIUM TO GRAB OUR MONEY. SPENDING LESS AND LESS ON THE PRODUCT ON THE FIELD (NOT INCLUDING THE JONSES, PIERRES AND SCHMIDTS THAT AREN’T ON OUR FIELD) SO THAT HE CAN KEEP MORE OF THE MONEY WE PAY HIM. DESTROYING THE FOUL TERRITORY THAT MADE THE STADIUM A PITCHERS PARK SO HE COULD KICK OUT LONGTIME SEASON TICKET HOLDERS AND REPLACE THEM WITH FANS WHO WOULD PAY HIM MORE MONEY FOR A SUDDENLY WORSE-OFF SEAT.

Frank McCourt fancies himself the Walrus AND the Carpenter, and all he sees in us is an endless field of 3 million oysters he has to finesse enough so he can grab the pearls.

I will ALWAYS love the Dodgers, through and through true blue, but I HATE what Frank McCourt has done to our team.

Lurch I also welcome you!
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Emma — Happy Birthday.
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Josh — It seems as if the ownership has lost or are losing control of things. They continue to push the “My Town” thing with people who don’t really call Dodgertown their town. It’s all for publicity.
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I love Entourage but those guys are throwing out the 1st pitch so they can get some free advertising because their series started up again on Sunday (Love the show by the way!).
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Maybe they should start pushing the everyday fan. The Birks/Emmas/CP’s, etc.. that go, as opposed to celebs that are just there for promotion.
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Each day I’m becoming more embarrassed about our ownership and how they are running this team.
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I find it really funny that Birk makes a comment on the last thread about the team being for the fans and not the celebs and the lead to this thread goes on to list all the celebs that were there.
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Again embarrassing. It seems as if every decision made by the upper management has been very bad.
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I think that all this stuff with the ownership is really affecting the team. As mentioned above I’m sure they hear and see what we do and roll their eyes. IE Torre askinbg for pitching and not getting any, the energy guy from Boston, the stuff on youtube with the McCourts, etc…
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I know Josh can’t be brutally real or straight on here all the time, but it would be nice not to hear the spin.
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Yes the fact is this was “not October” but we won’t sniff October if the ownership doesn’t change it’s approach soon.

Hi everyone.
“The World Series in June”, as Josh called it, and it felt like it but the Dodgers played like it was September.
Well that was yesterday and this is today and Bills is back against a guy who could be related to me, since he bears my mother’s maiden name.
O.K. it’s time for the Dodgers to defend their crown.
GO DODGERS!!!!!

Good evening everyone. I missed Friday and Saturday’s games as I was up in the beautiful Angeles National Forest, and unfortunately made it back for yesterday’s meltdown. I almost got sick to my stomach watching it. I see we did DFA Haegar, which I think was probably met with some happiness, and is understood. Let’s hope we can start beating up on our division and get back to first place. I just hope we will make moves to STRENGTHEN our team before the trade deadline. Let’s go Dodgers!!!

Well, Brox managed to wrest a loss from the jaws of victory last night. Totally disappointing, frustrating, and unaccetable.. What a freakin’ p*ss!!! I don’t care if you threw 19 pitches the night before!!! Christ, you had a 4 run lead!!! If our closer can’t get it done on consecutive nights, we’re screwed gang!!!! Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest. Thanks for letting me vent!!!!

That fact that Troncoso is warming up in the bullpen doesn’t really set well with me. This is going to be a very long series because it seems we are so short on pitching right now. When the Gnat announcers tell you the keys to the game are to get to the Dodgers bullpen, it’s not a good thing, and they just happen to be right about that this year.

Good to see that JoJo realized that Billz was toast!!! Nice outing, but nothing left in the tank. Unfortunately, as Dad pointed out, our vaunted bullpen, ain’t all that vaunted. Weaver, however, has been a bright spot. Good choice!!!!

Free Matt Kemp. He’s no more confused, befuddled, and inept than J. Martin is right now. One thing’s for certain–if the Dodgers are to make the playoffs, they’ll need Matt Kemp to do the heavy lifting, not Reed Johnson. Seems the Dodgers play this broken record every year.

I know Andre hasn’t been hitting so great lately, but he did have a Sac Fly to tie the game tonight, and without his arm, (once for using it and once for them not taking an extra base because of it) was a big difference in the game tonight. Andre helping getting Panda out was huge. It was more an issue with their base running, but it was nice to see us capitalize on someone else’s mistake this time. Lately, we have been the victims of those plays.

Agreed Nelly – sat tonight in Lower Box just past the Dodger Bulpen between First base and Dre’s spot in RF and witnessed all of those Dre plays up close. Well everyone of those defensive plays was nice except for the line drive single that somehow froze Ethier up then landed right in front of him…

Dre’s arm is really starting to make a difference in keeping runners from coming home AND keeping most first base coaches from sending their runners to second. Not quite a Raul Mondesi type of an arm cannon but respectful arm nonetheless…

… now if only Dre’s bat could heat up over the next 2 weeks to get him ready to start the All-Star Game in Anaheim!

Good Morning ITD’rs
Last night’s game came close but with a happy ending for the Dodgers.
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KEMP will be back…he has the J-MARTIN-2009 syndrome. But thank God, KEMP is curable.
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BPP…LOL so those that say “Yo Ching-Gon Foo-Ki Yu”
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(it is spanglish and it translates I’m BAD *** F-You)
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NELLY great seat. I will be going at the end of July to catch a game in Frisco….but I doubt if I get great seats…LOL
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Hope everyone is having a great day!

NELLY sounds like a fun weekend! Yeah I caught my mistake. I just read NELLY next too the message..LOL. I’m excited about going to a different stadium. I’ve only been to Dodger’s & Angel’s and they are similar. Oh yeah I’ve been to the Padres Stadium too, not for a game. I really like that one. I was checking out AT&T park yesterday while watching the game and it looks beautiful. I did notice how it goes around. Well I hope your son really enjoys the tour of Acadamy. And I hope you are enjoying the cooler weather. OMG 104 is just too hot. We have not had that type of weather here YET. We usually do but somehow we’ve been LUCKY. Well have fun at the game TONIGHT! GOOOOO DODGERS!

Rosie ~ I wasn’t at the game last night. We are going to the city today and going to the game tonight. My son, Michael, is looking into going to the Art Academy (which has a D2 baseball team), and he has a tour today. He and my hubby are doing that,and the rest of us are enjoying the cooler weather (it was a 104 here yesterday) and some Union Square shopping and lunch. As for the game, we are spread out all over the place. The one good thing about AT&T Park is that you can literally walk all the way around the stadium. At Dodger Stadium you can’t get to left or right field bleachers without having a ticket for that section. So,Michael and his friends are sitting in the left center bleacher section between Matt and Manny……..the rowdy Giant fan section (I think they will be behind that Yahoo sign out in left center). Matt and Mariya are sitting in the similar section where Gibbie was sitting………..it should be a little less stressful for Dodger fans there. Hubby, my cousin, and I (and Collie too) are sitting in the Arcade section (brick wall in right field), behind Andre of course :) It really is a pretty neat ballpark. It is just too bad the Giants play there.

After the game, we are going to stop in San Jose for the night and then head to Monterey/Carmel the next day. This was all last minute planning for the most part. We got scheduled for this tour and all the other stuff kind of fell into place.

Good morning ITD!
So I got my birthday win!
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Have a great time at the game. Hopefully our Blue will come thru again!
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Rosie,
I’ll be making a return to trip to AT&T park in July so maybe I”ll see you there.
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All,
My friend Linda has leftover tickets for the group get together from the Bigbluewrecking crew forum on Saturday July 10th. She purchased 30 tickets but some have backed out. Is Photo Day against the Cubs. Tix in the Reserved up above the press box. Section 6, rows P, R, and S. 10 seats per row. The tickets are $20 each. Let me know if anyone is interested. I am trying to help her so she wont get stuck with some tix.
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com

Vargas probably rusty no one really can’t pitch well in a hitter park in the minor can they? I think Torre would let him pitch into the 8th innings at least his PC is low and didn’t Ely had 2 games while he pitch over 100+ by the 6th?

Sorry Shad, Pittsburgh dumping Trashner just to get younger doesn’t hold water:
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D.J. Carrasco 1-2 4.12 Age 33
Brendan Donnelly 3-1 5.79 Age 39 (in 6 more days)
Octavio Dotel 2-1 4.85 Age 36
Javier Lopez 1-1 2.86 Age 33 (in 13 days)
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Cold hard facts are, he sucks and is just the kind of useless “find” Ned would make. If he was that valuable, why didn’t anyone else give him a sniff? My guess its because they know garbage when they smell it.

Vargas could pitch in Yellowstone Park and still get knocked around. I guess he’s a known commodity to Ned since he already stepped in that pile before.
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Let’s put it this way, I’d much rather Vargas be pitching against us than for us.

What’s the point of all this? Welcome to Dodger baseball in the McCourt era.

Tb4 ~ I think Joe is sending Kemp a message. I love Matt and think he has a world of talent, but I feel sometimes he doesn’t hustle as hard as he could. I think he needs to work at the mental part of the game more. I’ve always felt that the truly great players do not succeed on pure talent alone, desire and work ethic play an important part.

Good afternoon ITD boys and girls!
Can?t stay long, but I?ve gotta say a few things. I know a number of you have been saying it, and I wholeheartedly agree, but I?ve gotta say that the Dodgers? ownership and how they are running the organization is embarrassing, to say the least. Go ahead, insert whatever adjective seems appropriate. I?ve been feeling for a while that I, personally, don?t seem to have the same energy level that I did before when it comes to the Dodgers and their games and such. I?ve been saying that it?s due to the large number of physical issues I?ve been having lately; and it very well may be that. But I go back to Sunday?s game where JB had his meltdown. Was I stunned at what transpired in that game? YES. Did it want me to jump thru the TV and strangle JB? YES. But what I felt shortly after that was a strange feeling of calm. Yes, I said calm. While I was upset at what I just witnessed (so glad that I didn?t pay to see that game in person), there was one theme that was going through my head.

Okay, maybe not just ONE theme. My thought process went something like this: JB had a meltdown. Why didn?t Torre put Troncoso in the game? He was warming up and it wasn?t a save situation? But in the end, I understand why he put JB in that situation; considering who was coming up in the batting order. And even if Troncoso went into the game, I still believe the same thing would?ve happened. Troncoso, in all likelihood, would?ve had his usual meltdown; JB would?ve come into the game and probably still would?ve melted down as he did. Then I just surmised that Torre didn?t want to go to Troncoso because he really didn?t have any confidence in Troncoso?s ability (or inability) to get those key outs from those that were coming up in the lineup. Then I started thinking about how Torre has been saying since DAY 1 what he wanted: PITCHING. I don?t think that Torre got the pitching he?s been asking for, do you think so? Did Ned or Frank or whoever is making decisions up there (um, can you tell me who signs everyone?s paychecks?) get Torre the pitching he?s been asking FROM DAY 1? The answer is NO.

No, I don?t believe that the current Dodger ownership is interested in putting a quality ball club on the field. I believe that they ARE interested in keeping up appearances, pandering to the Hollywood types. Notice, I didn?t say the Hollywood elite; who are some these ?celebrities?? They DEFINITELY have forgotten us common folk. The common fan is NOT who the Dodgers are catering too. I wonder how many of those on the ?My Town? ads are REALLY Dodger fans? Not many, I would guess.

And this sickens me. I?ve loved the Dodgers FOREVER. I always have and I always will. But I?ve seen such changes with this organization (and not for the better) over the years. It sickens me because I?ve let the current LA Dodgers ownership get to me to where I see that as a HUGE DISTRACTION from me just enjoying watching the Dodgers. Again, there may be more personal issues to this distraction I feel, but I know that the current ownership isn?t helping matters much.

Please, to anyone in the Dodger organization that will listen, please do. I wouldn?t mind the Hollywood pandering so much if the ownership was TRULY committed to fielding a quality ball club and didn?t just pay lip service in saying that they?re committed ? SHOW IT IN THEIR ACTIONS!!!

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